George  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 

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FAMILY  OF 
COLONEL  FLOWERS 


OF  THE 

ADDRESS  OF  JOHN  L.  HUNTER, 

SENATOR  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW'S  PARISH, 

COLLETON  DISTRICT. 

CONCERNING  THE  POLITICAL,  DOCTRINE 

OP 

STATE  SOVEREIGNTY  $  NULLIFICATION, 

BY  A  PLA1T¥  FARMER* 

•'TRUTH  IS  GREAT,  AND  WILL  PREVAIL.'7 


Charleston: 


PRINTED  BY  J.  S.  BURGES. 

1831. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/shortexplanationOOhunt 


A  SHORT  EXPLANATION,  &c 


A  Plain  Farmer  among  his  fellow-citizens  of  Colleton 
District,  would  invite  their  attention  to  a  few  plain  re- 
marks on  some  of  the  leading  doctrines  contained  in  the 
Address  of  John  L.  Hunter,  with  a  scrupulous  regard 
to  truth  and  jus* ice.  The  address  with  the  Edisto  pre- 
amble to  which  it  refers,  and  of  which  it  may  be  considered 
a  component  part,  is  either  not  perfectly  understood  or 
grossly  misrepresented. 

Those  papers  distinctly  declare  "we  mean  not  to  affirm 
that  the  Supreme  Court  can  sit  in  judgment  upon  politi- 
cal questions,  or  upon  controversies  between  sovereign 
States  and  the  General  Government,  but  we  do  affirm 
that,  that  tribunal  and  a  Convention  of  the  States  are  the 
only  umpires  created  by  that  instrument" (the Constitution.) 
Again,  "but  it  is  said  the  President  cannot  coerce  a 
sovereign  State}  true,  a  State  may  when  she  is  oppressed 
by  the  General  Government,  withdraw  from  the  Union, 
and  thus  evade  by  abandoning  the  Constitution  the  con- 
trol of  the  Federal  Government." 

From  these  quotations  and  the  whole  tenor  of  those 
papers  it  is  plainly  to  be  understood,  that  the  General 
Government  is  established  upon  a  contract*  with  limited 
powers — that  upon  a  violation  of  that  contract  final  and 
conclusive  judgment,  according  to  the  meaning  of  Mr. 
Jefferson's  Resolutions,  belongs  to  each  State  as  an  inde- 
pendent party.  But  in  order  to  carry  that  judgment  into 
execution  after  a  solemn  protest,  appeal,  &c.  fail,  (should 
a  party  be  determined  to  right  herself)  it  is  necessary  for 
a  State  to  resume  those  powers  of  sovereignty  sh°  has 
delegated  to  form  a  General  Government:  to  wit,  she  has 

*  For  the  terms  and  words  of  the  contract  see  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 


• 


4 


given  away  the  power  to  lay  and  collect  duties,  to  declare 
war,  to  make  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  and  has  vested 
the  President  with  the  command  of  the  militia.  Can  she 
resume  those  powers  and  still  continue  a  member  of  the 
Union,  enjoying  the  protection  and  submitting  to  the 
same;  and  is  it  not  plain  that  to  set  aside  or  otherwise 
defeat  the  collection  of  the  duties,  (which  is  a  nullifica- 
tion of  the  Tariff  Act)  is  resuming  the  power  to  lay  and 
collect  duties.  Or  can  he  State  in  nullifying  have  resort 
to  the  militia,  and  make  her  Governor  Commander  in 
Chief,  when  she  has  already  vested  the  President  of  the 
United  States  with  the  power  of  that  office.  The  address 
denies  that  she  can,*  if  she  can  then  is  nullification  as 
understood  in  Carolina,  peaceful  and  constitutional  resis- 
tance. 

Many  of  our  good  citizens  not  examining  for  themselves 
but  submitting  to  the  dictation  of  others,  entertain  such  a 
belief,  and  indulge  the  most  severe  reflections  upon  the 
patriotism  of  those  who  differ  from  them,  using  the  most 
obnoxious  epithets,  such  as  jederalists  enemies  of  State 
Rights,  #c.f 

If  such  a  remedy  be  provided  for  our  State  grievances 
where  shall  we  find  it?  The  Constitution  to  which  every 
citizen  should  look  without  paying  implicit  obedience  to 
the  opinion  of  any  man,  however  great  and  exalted  his 
situation,  is  silent  upon  this  most  important  subject.  But 
it  is  said  to  belong  to  the  reserved  rights  of  the  State,  not 
enumerated  in  the  Constitution. 

It  is  very  true,  as  the  Address  declares,  that  whatever 
ri :  h  s  the  State  possessed  before  she  entered  into  the 
agreement  or  compact  with  the  other  States,  and  did  not 
at  that  time  surrender  or  give  up,  she  sacredly  holds  as 
her  reserved  rights,  and  our  ancestors,  peace  to  their 
manes,  and  veneration  for  their  memories,  were  so  parti- 

*  For  more  abundant  proof  of  this  assertion,  as  the  writer  is  not  dis- 
posed to  deal  out  assertions  without  proof,  he  would  refer  the  reader  to 
the  Edisto  preamble,  the  arguments  of  which  he  avoids  to  repeat  for 
the  sake  of  brevity. 

|  It  would  aiFord  the  writer  pleasure  at  a  more  convenient  season,  (as 
to  do  so  now  would  make  this  paper  too  long,)  to  undertake  to  shew 
that  nullification  makes  neither  a  federalist  nor  republican,,  and  that  there 
are  good  republicans  on  both  sides. 


5 


cular,  and  manifested  so  tender  a  solicitude  for  our  interest 
as  to  insert  a  clause  in  the  Constitution  for  that  purpose,- 
but  how  can  a  right  to  nullify  an  Act  of  the  General 
Government  have  existed  before  its  establishment.  It 
never  has  been  recognized  as  a  constitutional  ri^ht,  and 
is  confounded  with,  and  mistaken  for  aright  of  resistance 
not  derived  from  the  Constitution,  but  growing  out  of  the 
nature  of  the  compact  in  defiance  of  the  authority  of  the 
Union;  a  right  of  the  parties  to  resolve  themselves  into 
their  original  independence.  Pennsylvania  attempted  to 
use  it  as  a  constitutional  right  years  past,  and  was  coerced, 
and  General  Bright*  who  executed  her  orders,  was  tried 
for  treason;  found  guilty,  and  pardoned  by  the  President. 

After  political  excitement  had  subsided,  she  acknow- 
ledged her  error,  and  complained  to  Congress  of  the  want 
of  a  tribunal  to  adjudicate  in  a  casein  which  a  State  feels 
herself  aggrieved  by  a  violation  of  the  Federal  Compact, 
and  the  necessity  of  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  for 
that  purpose. 

But  Congress,  the  South-Carolina  delegation  assen- 
ting, declared  by  the  rejection  of  the  application  that 
no  such  amendment  was  necessary — that  Pennsylvania 
must  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  Union  (If  the  writer 
errs  in  his  statements  he  is  willing  to  be  corrected,  and 
will  not  be  backward  to  make  acknowledgment.)  The  Fe 
deralists  in  the  New-England  or  Yankee  States,  attempted 
the  same  thing  in  the  Embargo,  and  if  sanctioned  would 
have  nullified  the  last  war,  which  they  declared  to  be  un- 
constitutional, partial  and  oppressive  upon  them,  unjust 
and  iniquitous. 

Such  proceedings  were  denounced  by  the  States,  and 
by  no  State  in  the  Union  with  more  bitter  execration  than 
South-Carolina,  and  indeed  when  the  delusion  had  passed 
away  the  people  of  New-England  denounced  the  nullify- 
ing doctrine  with  their  advocates. 

#You  will  perceive  that  the  militia  was  called  out  to  resist  the 
authority  of  the  General  Government,  while  the,  Constitution  declares 
the  President  shall  be  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  militia,  which  is  a 
fact  better  than  argument  to  shew  that  nullification  conflicts  with  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution.    Art.  2,  Sec.  2. 


It  is  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  many  of  you,  that  the 
Hartford  Convention,*  the  convention  held  by  these  fe- 
deralists to  defeat  the  war,  was  for  a  long  time  used  as  a 
term  of  reproach.  It  may  be  said  that  those  States  were 
paipably  wrong;  admitted,  but  right  or  wrong  had  they 
not  as  much  right  to  their  judgment,  which  they  had 
solemnly  pronounced,  as  our  own  Sta  e,  and  may  not  other 
States  in  the  exercise  of  so  dangerous  a  remedy  be  palpa- 
bly wrong  also,  and  if  sanctioned  by  precedent  and  au- 
thority shake  our  Government  to  its  centre,  paralize  her 
efforts  in  a  state  of  great  need,  when  she  wants  all  her 
power  and  energy,  and  deprive  her  of  the  means  to  protect 
and  defend  the  lights  of  her  citizens  at  home,  and  their 
rights  and  her  honor  abroad. 

If  nullification  be  peaceful  and  constitutional,  strange 
to  tell  that  it  had  not  been  resorted  to  long  since  without 
requiring  a  Convention  so  difficult  to  be  had;  still  stran- 
ger that  no  State  in  the  Union,  not  even  those  States  that 
have  a  common  interest  and  endure  common  suffering  with 
us,  have  given  sanction  to  such  proceeding. 

Indeed  many  of  the  leading  men  in  our  own  State 
favourable  to  the  doctrine,  give  us  to  understand  that 
nullification  is  no  ordinary  measure — that  it  should  be  the 
lasi  resort — that  collision  may  take  place — that  the  State 
must  be  prepared  for  the  worst — and  succour  may  be  ex- 
pected from  our  neighbouring  sister  States,  that  when 
the  deed  is  done  their  feelings  and  interests  must  unite 
them  with  us — they  compare  the  proceedings  to  the  com- 
mencement of  hostilities  with  England,  in  our  Revolu- 
tionary War. 

A  distinguished  individual!  o(  the  State  Rights  and 
Free  Trade  Party,  alike  distinguished  for  the  greatness 

*If  nullification  makes  a  republican  then  Caleb  Strong,  and  the 
Hartford  Convention  federalists  w  ere  true  republicans;  and  South-Caro- 
lina during  the  war,  who  opposed  and  denounced  Caleb  Strong  &  Co. 
was  purely  federal.  Mr.  Irving  might  as  well  persuade  us  that  South- 
Carolina  like  his  has  just  awoke  from  her  dream  and  shaken 

off  the  mantle  of  the  federalism;  no  indeed,  many  of  her  favourite  sons 
have  changed  the  robes  of  federalism  for  those  of  republicanism;  but  it 
is  in  vain  to  say  South-Carolina  has  changed. 

|  he  H  on.  George  IVi'Duffie,  the  substance  of  whose  language  if 
not  his  precise  words,  I  have  endeavoured  to  quote  from  memory,  not 
having  his  Charleston  Dinner  Speech  belore  me. 


1 


of  his  mind,  the  honesty  and  noble  qualifies  of  his  heart, 
has  rankly  declared  that  he  derives  not  ,hc  right  to  nul- 
lify from  the  Constitution,  hut  from  a  higher  power. 

Another  distinguished  individual*  a  delegate  to  the  Phi- 
ladelphia Convention!  from  the  same  Party(Judge  Cheves) 
says,  "On  nullification,  another  of  the  specific  modes  of 
action  which  have  been  suggested,  I  think  a  construc- 
tion has  been  put  in  this  State  different  from  that  which 
Jefferson,  Madison,  and  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky 
Legislatures  intended  it  should  bear;  I  do  not  say  a  less 
correct  one.  They  as  I  suppose,  considered  it  a  mere 
declaration  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  the  States,  of  the 
invalidity  of  the  law."  He  goes  on  to  say,  "The  evils  the 
South  complains  of  ought  to  be  resisted,  but  I  deprecate 
the  action  of  a  single  State,  I  have  no  confidence  in  any 
resistance,  peaceble  or  forcible,  which  shall  not  embrace 
a  majority  of  the  suffering  States.  I  believe,  I  am  sure 
it  will  be  abortive  resistance;  on  the  contrary  to  will 
by  a  united  determination,  a  redress  of  Southern  wrongs 
and  security  of  Southern  rights  will  be  effectually  to 
accomplish  both.  Any  measure  of  the  suffering  States 
alone  will  be  a  measure  of  feebleness,  subjected  to  many 
hazards;  any  union  among  the  same  Slates  will  be  a 
measure  of  strength  almost  of  certain  success. 

Such  is  the  course  recommended  in  the  AddressJ  and 
the  same  course  the  Anti-Tariff  Siates  with  South-Caro- 
lina are  at  this  time  pursuing.  Let  South-Carolina  then 
continue  to  act  in  concert  and  co-operation  with  her 
sister  States,  alike  suffering  with  her  in  a  dignified  and 
determined  opposition  to  the  odious  and  obnoxious  Tariff. 
If  her  efforts  prove  unavailing — Congress  is  hardened 
against  her  complaints  and  will  not  redress  her  grievances, 
and  her  people§  are  determined  to  resist  at  all  hazards — 

*  See  Judge  Cheves'  letter  to  the  State  Rights  Meeting  in  Columbia, 
in  1830,  I  think  September. 

t  The  delegates  from  the  Anti-Tariff  States  met  in  Convention  at 
Philadelphia,  Sept.  30,  1831.  All  parties  in  this  State  approving  of  it. 
May  God  bless  their  labours  with  success. 

1  See  last  page  of  Mr.  Hunter's  Address. 

§  It  is  the  duty  of  a  Representative  to  give  all  the  information  he  can 
to  the  people  upon  all  important  political  questions,  in  order  that  their 
minds  may  be  enlightened,  and  their  will  made  known. 


8 


then  with  firm  reliance  on  the  justice  of  her  cause,  and  the 
merciful  providence  of  the  same  God  who  stretched  out 
his  mighty  arm  to  save,  and  did  save  our  ancestors  in  their 
glorious  struggle  for  liberty,  raise  the  sovereign  voice  of  the 
State  in  Convention, and  let  her  pass  her  final  and  conclusive 
judgment;  then  may  she  with  a  clear  conscience  call  upon 
her  suffering  sister  States  for  succour,  with  a  hopeful 
prospect  of  receiving  it  and  their  cordeal  co-operation. 

Such  are  the  true  sentiments  of  Stare  Sovereignty — of 
prudence,  interest  and  duty — and  such  are  the  sentiments 
of  the  Senator's  Address. 

In  doing  a  common  act  of  justice  in  making  this  ex- 
planation, the  writer  trusts  he  has  wounded  the  fee-ings 
of  no  one.  Far,  very  far  from  his  intentions  to  impugn 
the  motives  and  villify  the  character  of  any  one,  however 
widely  he  may  differ  in  political  sentiments.  He  allows 
to  others  what  he  claims  for  himself,  the  sacred  privilege 
of  a  freeman  to  form  and  maintain  his  own  opinions,  con- 
ceiving it  at  the  same  time  his  duty  and  the  duty  of  every 
one,  to  seek  and  receive  all  the  information  he  can  get,  as 
the  foundation  of  those  opinions. 

A  PLAIN  FARMER. 


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